Easier Said Than Done
by Florida's Firefly
Summary: Oneshot. After CL tries to tell all about the spaceship and they storm away, Abby makes a final attempt to stand up to Foxy for her friends. But when she gets more trouble than she expected, she might need to take her own advice to heart. Spoilers herein.


So, I realized one day that after the scene where Chicken Little walks away from the baseball field heartbroken and Foxy "reassures" Buck, you never see that obnoxious fox trying to make CL's life miserable again. In fact, the only other times you see her is when she gets vaporized, she's floating in the abyss and sucking her thumb, and then she becomes a Southern Belle. Here's my theory on why this incident is...

And oh, yeah, Chicken Little and it's characters belong to Disney, not me. Todd, Lily, Gil, Allison, and Jordy are my characters and are property of ME!

* * *

Abby Mallard stood on the field of Oakey Oak's old stadium, watching her best friend Chicken Little trying desperately to explain to the town why they hadn't seen the alien spaceship that had just been there two minutes ago. He told them over and over again that he was telling the truth and the reason they couldn't see the ship was because it had cloaking panels that made it invisible 

The townsfolk were not impressed. In fact, they were livid.

"I'm tellin' ya everyone, it was here!" Chicken Little insisted.

Abby wanted to help him. She ran forward and came to his defense. "No, wait, there _were_ aliens!" she promised, in hopes that her consent would maybe lead more people to believe him.

"It's true!" Runt, another one of her friends, ran up and corresponded. "Th-Their eyes were glowing and they had tentacles and maps of the planets with X's on them! AAH!" he yelled, absolutely freaking out.

Runt's enormous mother suddenly grabbed her youngest by the ear. "Runt, that's enough!" she scolded. "Don't make Mommy take away your Streisand collection!"

"Mom, you leave Barbra out of this!" Runt exclaimed as his mom dragged him off.

Principal Fetchit stormed up to Buck, Chicken Little's father. "Why can't you keep that child of yours under control?" he demanded. Buck could only shrug sheepishly. The townsfolk all began yelling at Buck at once, calling his son a little delinquent and telling him as Fetchit did to get him reined in; to start using some discipline on the boy so he'd stop causing so much trouble.

"Dad!" Chicken Little yelled. "Dad! I'm not making this up...! You gotta believe me this time."

Buck stared at his son with his mouth open like he was about to say something. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the several angry faces of all the animals in Oakey Oaks, staring at him and waiting for his reply. He looked back at his son.

"…No, son…I don't."

The next few seconds of silence that followed were deep as Chicken Little stared at his father, his face a mixture of hurt and disbelief.

Laughing nervously, Buck turned towards everyone. "Hah, I can't tell you how embarrassed I am, folks! I-I'm really sorry about this, everyone! Looks like this is just a big…crazy misunderstanding, I…"

"Hmm." The mayor Turkey Lurkey marched up to him and showed him the penny he had grabbed from the sidewalk on the way to the field. "Well, other than the penny, this whole evening was a wash!"

Buck drooped as the mayor waddled away. Foxy sidled towards the estranged father. "Oh, Mr. Cluck…don't take it so hard." she said sincerely. "_No_ one blames _you_."

Abby wanted so much to make Foxy eat her words just once. The young duckling stared in concern at Chicken Little as he hung his head and turned to look at her. Abby managed a smile at him. But her friend only silently shook her head and stared at the ground as he shambled past her. She turned to watch him leave and opened her mouth to say something, but she thought better of it. Chicken Little didn't seem in the mood to listen to any advice at the moment.

Buck and Chicken Little walked their separate ways. Abby sighed to herself and looked at Fish. He blubbed sadly, tilting his head in slight confusion. Abby couldn't fins anything to say; she just shook her head and looked at the ground.

Within the minute, Fish's parents came to pick him up. Fish, although hesitant at first to leave his friend on the field, left with them.

Then the only two left on the old baseball field were Abby and Foxy.

Both of them were aware that they were alone, but Abby did her best to pretend she didn't notice Foxy there. But even with her back on the snobbish fox, she could feel her stare cutting right through her.

"…Poor Chicken Loser…" Foxy smirked, finally breaking the silence. "That acorn didn't fall far from the tree, now did it?"

Still, Abby didn't look at her and didn't say anything. Finally, she talked back. "…He's telling the truth, you know."

Foxy had an amused smirk on her face. "Oh, uhh, sure. Yeah, okay…" She lowered an eyebrow in further amusement. "Wow, ya'll really _are_ made for each other, you and Egg Drop. I can see the movie sequel now - 'Crazy Little Chicken and Dorky Ugly Duckling. I feel for you, girl. I really do." she said with mock sympathy.

Abby would have loved to have at least one day when she wasn't called The Ugly Duckling. She was _really_ starting to get tired of having to shut it out so often.

She did ponder time and again why she was where she was. Out of her whole family, including her parents and her little brother, she was the only one that looked…well…ugly.

But if she could've reached as far back as eleven whole years, she would've remembered the faces and affections of her actual parents, before being suddenly brought to the town orphanage and spending almost a month there before she was adopted by Todd and Lily - a couple that had been good friends with her birth parents before their passing. Todd and Lily _were_ good parents to Abby. They were as good as any guardians she could ask for and they loved her like she was their real offspring. Abby was aware that she wasn't living with her actual parents, but they had been a part of her life so long ago that she couldn't remember them at all. That was the fact that tortured her the most.

The only thing that Abby could remember was that she had had to deal with this crap her whole life and she was finally getting sick of it. Still, she tried to bear down and do what she had always done in the face of her criticizers. Ignore them.

"Aw, you don't wanna talk about it?" Foxy asked, continuing her sarcastic sympathy as she slid up to the duckling's side. "Aww, and I thought we were buddies…"

Abby just rolled her eyes and ignored her.

"I thought we shared secrets like friends always do!" Foxy continued bogusly. She smirked. "Like how you've got a crush the size of Wisconsin on that loser."

At that, Abby finally saw the opportunity for the perfect comeback. "And how you suck your thumb?"

It was one of the few times Abby had seen herself get the last laugh on verbal war with her nemesis. "Watch it, Franken-duck." was all Foxy could shoot back with a glare.

Satisfied with herself, Abby turned towards the stadium gate.

But, of course, Foxy wasn't done. "Okay, you wanna leave…" she shrugged. "I understand. What, with the rest of your rat pack turned in for the night, I suppose you wanna get back to that fake family of yours."

That was it. Abby couldn't stand it anymore. She turned to face her. "You know what, Foxy…?" she started, but then, after a silent moment, she sighed in frustration and turned to leave the field. It took everything she had to manage all this self-control.

"I mean, wow…" Foxy continued with a smirk. "To think that your face is so repulsive that your own _parents_ gave you away, and at only two years old, no less…"

Abby stopped in her tracks. _Forget self-control._ After a moment, she turned and walked back to her. The young duckling drew a fist back and swung it as hard she could at Foxy, slamming her full-force in the nose and knocking her off her feet. Foxy stumbled back onto the ground, holding her probably-bleeding nose in her paws. She looked up at Abby with the most stunned look on her face. Nobody in her whole life had _ever_ had the guts and brawn to clout her in the face like that, in fear that they would get pounded themselves.

Without a word in between them, Abby stood and glared at the shocked fox kit on the ground. Then, she turned around and walked back towards the stadium exit.

On the inside, Abby smiled to herself. That was all she had ever really wanted - to get a good swing in at that brat's smug, little face. It was all she had ever wanted to do whenever Foxy had been picking on her and her friends since Pre-K. That one hit was all she had needed to get in.

But, it was also enough for Foxy to get pretty furious. What Abby didn't know was that just because she had Goosey usually around to do her dirty work, it didn't mean that Foxy was a wimpy fighter. In fact, being the kind of animal she was, she was a pretty strong one that would declare personal war at the drop of a hat. She was going to make that duck pay. With a growl, Foxy jumped to her feet and darted for Abby.

Abby glanced back over her shoulder, but just a moment too late to dodge. Foxy tackled her hard right into the dirt. Terrified out of her wits at first, Abby quickly had to pull herself together to defend herself.

Finally getting the thought to use her feet, Abby forcefully kicked Foxy off of her. The frightened duckling quickly jumped to her feet and faced her. She knew right away that whacking Foxy in the face might've not been a very good idea.

Foxy glared and looked over at her, noticing the look of fear on her face. "C'mon, _pipsqueak_." she growled and stood up. "You scared or somethin'? C'mon!""

Abby yelled and dodged as Foxy took another swing at her head. Her eyes wide, Abby backed up as she had to continually avoid her rival's fist. At one point, she felt herself almost fall over and glanced back to see she was standing on the edge of one of the dugout. She gasped and quickly regained her balance, forgetting for the moment that she was completely vulnerable to Foxy.

Foxy suddenly delivered a hard, swift one right to the side of Abby's head, sending her crashing down in the dugout, right into the bat rack. Although dazed, Abby recovered quickly and jumped to her feet. But this time, she was ready for a fight. She recalled all the times she had wanted to get back at Foxy whenever she'd found one way or another to make her and her friends' lives miserable. It was that which motivated her and quickly turned her to fight back for real. She climbed out of the dugout quickly and faced Foxy, bearing down to defend herself. The two girls darted right for each other and collided in combat.

Just then Abby's foster dad, Todd, pulled his car up outside the stadium and looked in. He had heard about the town disturbance that had happened when Chicken Little was telling everyone an alien spaceship had landed in the field. But he obviously didn't expect to see what he did now. "Abby!" he yelled and got out of the car as fast as he could. He ran towards the field where the two girls were still going at it.

Both combatants dealt the other with some direct and descent blows. But no matter how hard they struggled and fought neither one could seem to land a direct blow on the other. Foxy kept on trying to knock Abby straight in the face, but the young duckling managed to dodge her constantly, with an alertness that she herself didn't know that she had. But when she saw Foxy caught off her guard for one second, it was Abby who got the final hit in when she sent her rival toppling back with another well-placed punch in the mouth.

"Abby!" Todd snapped as he approached. Abby looked up at him. He glanced over at Foxy as she sat up and wiped a trickle of blood from her lip. "What in the world is going on here?" Todd demanded to both girls.

There was a long moment of silence, with only the sounds of Abby and Foxy panting. Neither of them said a word.

Todd looked at both of them for a silent moment. "…All right," he finally said and motioned towards the stadium's gate. "C'mon, Abby, go get in the car."

A bit hesitant, Abby stared at Foxy. She didn't feel like their business with each other was done.

"_Now_." Todd demanded, to which his daughter glanced at Foxy for one more second before obediently turning and walking towards the gate. Todd followed her and Foxy herself departed from the baseball field.

Abby climbed into the car next to her dad and shut the door behind her. She buckled in, and then caught Foxy out of the corner of her eye. The girls looked right at each other, both patched with dirt with a cut or two from their brawl. Foxy glared at her for a moment before turning forward again and continuing her route home. She discreetly wiped a sleeve over her lip, which was still bleeding a little.

Starting the car up, Todd glanced over at his adopted daughter, a bit confused. Abby had never been one to act very irrational or competitive. So it was obvious to say that he was in a state of shock when he saw her in a fierce exchange of blows with the town "darling". It seemed like the two of them had finally snapped like dry twigs.

The car pulled out of the parking lot and out onto the street as Todd directed it towards home. He looked over at Abby, who was just sitting there and not saying a word. He looked at the cut she had gotten from a blow to the side of her head.

"…You need to wash that." he finally said.

"It's nothing…" Abby said quietly as she stared at the car seat.

A few more minutes went by as the car silently traveled down the road. "…Abby…" Todd spoke up, "you've never…_ever_ gotten in a fight like that."

"Foxy was being a jerk." Abby told him simply.

"Foxy's always being a jerk to you, but I've never seen you two pounding each other like that, and I know there was a reason at least one of you snapped, so what happened?" he asked again.

Abby stared out the window and was silent a while. She didn't want to repeat what it was that Foxy had said about her parents. "…Nothing." she finally answered him.

Looking at her, Todd sighed to himself. "…Well…that'd better be the last 'nothing' that happens, you understand me?"

Abby's eyes fell upon the car seat and she didn't look her dad in the eye. She herself regretted ever punching Foxy. She didn't know why she hadn't guess that she'd get battered like she did. "…Yes, sir…" she said quietly.

Todd glanced over at her and noticed how regretful she actually looked right then. He was aware of Foxy's true nature, and how she was constantly pushing Abby and her friends around. He also knew that Abby was constantly trying to defend and stand up for her friends, regardless of whatever Foxy and Goosey did to her. It was an obligation she had taken on herself.

With another silent sigh to himself, Todd reached over and gently ruffled his daughter's head feathers. She glanced up at him and, after a moment, gave him a slight smile.

The rest of the ride went without another word between them.

At the house, Abby's foster mother Lily tended to the cut on her face with a peroxide-dabbed cotton ball. And if you'd ever had to have peroxide put on an open cut, you're aware how much it can sting.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Abby shut her eyes tight and sucked a bit of air through her teeth.

"I know, I know, hang in there." Lily encouraged. After a moment of tending, she looked up at her daughter. ""So…" she said. "You wanna tell me why you girls were beating the living daylights out of each other?"

Abby shook her head. "I don't know, Mom, I just-- Ow!" she flinched from another slight pang.

"It got too much for you to handle, huh?"

"Yeah…" Abby glanced at the floor.

"What happened?"

Abby sighed. "Foxy… just said something that made me mad. _Ow!_" she yelped at another sudden sting from the peroxide.

"Obviously." Lily commented. She looked up at Abby after a moment of silence. "So you wanna tell me what it was she said?"

Abby sighed. She still wasn't comfortable with telling either Todd or Lily about what Foxy had said. Sure, they were her legal parents and all, but there was just something weird to her about talking personally to her adopted parents about her _real_ parents. But she knew that they were there to listen and help her. Her own advice began flooding her head. _You need closure on this issue! _Her mind screamed. _Talk, talk, TALKING!_

Noticing that her daughter wasn't spilling the beans, Lily looked up at her. She got a look of slight concern on her face. "…Abby?"

"She…" Abby started, fighting to get the words out, "…she just said something about my actual mom and dad, that's all."

That's all Lily really needed to know. Instead of asking her exactly what was said, she paused and nodded slightly. "…I see." she said quietly. She looked up at her adopted daughter, noticing her staring into nothing with a slight look of hurt on her face. After a moment, Lily put a hand on Abby's cheek and looked her in the eye. "…I'm sorry, Abby." she said.

Abby forced a small smile and nodded a bit, to give her mom the sign that said she was okay.

Lily stood and put up the peroxide bottle. "All right," she said, "it's almost midnight. You should be in bed. Jordy's got baseball practice tomorrow morning and it's gonna be a crazy day as it is."

Abby hopped off the table. She seemed to be thinking about something. "…Mom?" she spoke up after a moment. "I have a thought… W-Why don't you and Dad go out to dinner tomorrow night and I'll stick around here with Jordy and we'll do karaoke or something?"

Lily raised an eyebrow slightly, almost looking a bit amused. "You're volunteering to baby-sit your little brother, Abby?"

Her daughter thought and realized that's what she had pretty much lent herself to in a nutshell "…Yeah, I guess I am."

Lily gave a curious smirk. "Why?"

"I don't know." Abby shrugged with a confused smile. "I guess 'cause I don't understand a single _thing_ about my life as I know it."

Her mother smiled. "Well, thank you, Abby. Your dad and I would love a break."

Abby watched her head upstairs, and after a moment followed up after her. She thought about everything that had happened that night. Now that she thought of it, it hadn't been a total loss. Foxy now had somewhat of an understanding of what Abby had the strength to do and left the battlefield with a few reminders of it. Maybe that meant that she would think twice next time she felt the urge to torment her or her friends. A day without teasing, shaking, bruising, grabbing, flinging, tripping, and no more violent smacks to the head by a dodgeball during time-out. It all just seemed too good to be true.

Walking down the hallway, Abby passed by her little brother's dark bedroom. She could see Jordy curled up asleep in his bed. With a slight smile, she quietly leaned in and flipped the switch for his wall nightlight just in case he woke up, so he didn't end up sitting in pitch dark. She then walked down to her room a couple doors down and walked in. She closed the door behind her and began to get ready for bed.

She began to think about Chicken Little. Having just talked with her foster mom about a rather tough issue, she could understand why it was hard to obtain closure. Talking about a personal issue was definitely easier said than done. And especially after what had happened that night, her best friend was probably not up for advice from a chick magazine. Still, she'd go with Runt and Fish tomorrow to see him, and she would offer her suggestion of closure as gently as she could.

What she didn't know was that things would be different the next morning… A _whole lot_ different.


End file.
